The Pelicans Are Ready To Make Some SERIOUS Noise Iin The Playoffs…

The Pelicans Are Ready To Make Some SERIOUS Noise Iin The Playoffs…

The Pelicans are turning into the team that we’ve wanted them to be for a long time as I’m currently recording this they have the fifth best record in the Western Conference and that means if the season ended today they could safely get into the playoffs without having to go

Through the playing tournament and it’s the first time they’ve comfortably been a playoff team since the ad era and I’m just loving the way they’re playing right now for one we’ve been saying this for a while that if they get Zion back and fully healthy then they’d be good

Enough to be a top four to five team in the west and right now they’re proving us right they’re playing pretty solid two-way basketball they’re sitting at the 11th spot in offensive rating and expectedly they’re sitting at the sixth spot in defensive rating got to give a

Ton of credit to Herb Jones for being spectacular on that end of the floor this season he’s making a very very strong case for being selected to the all defensive first team and he’s established himself as one of the League’s best one-on-one Wing Defenders and he’s been a big key behind their

Elite play on that end not just this season but over the last couple of years even their top offensive guys like Zion and Brandon Ingram have stepped up on that end they’re not traditionally known for their defense but they’re doing a great job at holding their own and not

Saying they’re playing like all Defense level like herb Jones but they’re doing an amazing job at holding their own and when you’ve got your top offensive options buying in on defense you know you’re doing things right and they have so much depth on that end as well so a

Lot of people talk about bench production and just look at it from an offensive standpoint but this team has so many guys in their rotation who can come in and provide some stability defensively Jos Alvarado Larry n Jr Dyson Daniels when he’s back and healthy Naji Marshall there are so many capable

Defenders on this Pelicans rotation and now let’s switch over and talk talk about their offense everything is clicking for them and all their top scoring guys find their lanes and fit so well with each other they’re getting so much balanced production between Brandon Ingram CJ McCollum Zion Williamson and

Even Trey Murphy between those four guys none of them are putting up absolute eye popping stats there are no 30 point per game scores on this team Zion for example is averaging a career low on points for 22.3 per game and CJ McConnell’s dipped from 20 points last

Season 18 points this season but as I mentioned they fit so well with each other on offense it’s working and I love this approach they taken over the last couple years where they have Zion acting as a primary playmaker bringing the ball up court and kind of bullying his way to

The rim to open up shots for his team and so many guys are benefiting from that and I think that’s one of the most underrated parts of his game we could talk about his sheer power and athleticism he displays but there’s a reason why they defer to him as a

Playmaker a lot of possessions he’s putting up a career best 5.1 assist per game while playing that four position and for him in particular this is such an important season in the midst of what’s been a pretty confusing career he’s well on par to play the most games

During a regular season in his career he’s already played in 54 prior to this the most games he’s played in the season was 61 he’s on the way to surpass that number and this is his first opportunity to show us what type of player he can be in the postseason playoff production is

Like the lit Miss test for players for a lot of analysts and fans this is where certain guys can prove just how quote unquote legit they truly are and due to injuries Zion hasn’t had that ability to show off how effective he can be in the playoffs just yet but this is the

Perfect opportunity for him to do just that despite the injuries that we’ve seen him have over the course of his career he still has has the potential to be a future top five player as he’s relatively young at just 23 years old and this postseason is the ultimate

Stage for him to prove that cuz be honest due to his unavailability over the last few years he’s fallen out of a lot of your top five players under 25 lists so this is a big postseason for him in New Orleans as it’s the first time in a long time really the first

Time under the Willie Green era where they’ve been able to operate with a fully healthy roster going into April now do I think they’re a real title Contender right now to be honest I don’t really know they are a relatively experienced team outside of Zion bi and

CJ and a number of other guys have been in some intense Playoff scenarios before so experience isn’t too much of an issue with them and they do have multiple closes on this team they’re deep they play well on both ends so it’s hard to truly count them out as real contenders

But it’s also hard to be fully confident that they are but that’s the story with the West right now in general it’s very tough to tell who the real contenders are right now versus Who The Pretenders are so I guess we’ll have to sit back

And see but no doubt this team does look like they’re going to be a very tough out in a seven game series come playoff time and for them the basketball stuff has been there their biggest responsibility and their biggest point of concern moving into April is just staying healthy

The Pelicans have finally emerged into the domiannt Western Conference group we’ve been waiting for them to become, posting the 5th best record in the Western Conference. Their two way attack has been amazing as they have the 11th best offensive rating in the Association to go along with the 6th best defensive rating. Herb Jones’ All- Defense level play on that end has been amazing, and other stars like Zion and Brandon Ingram have held it down as well.

They’ve found a system around Zion that gives them consistency with him acting more as a point forward on some possessions, and it’s creating efficient opportunities for this team.

Health is going to be thier biggest question moving into the postseason, but they’ve got solid enough experience and two way play to be a tough enough out in the West playoffs.

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